(Preschool, Primary) Whether elephants can (or should) dance is the quandary presented to preschoolers and new readers in the latest Elephant Piggie easy reader. When elephant Gerald intones, "Elephants cannot dance," Piggie responds with a crestfallen, "You are kidding me." It turns out that elephants can try to dance, and that even though Gerald can't keep up with Piggie, he has a few (unwitting) moves of his own. Color-coded speech bubbles (pink for Piggie, gray for Gerald, and brown for the little squirrels who join the story near its end) focus the new reader's attention on the simple words and expressive illustrations. Despite some challenging sight words (e.g., "ENOUGH!"), the story is easily understood and will provide instant reading success and lots of laughs, especially if the audience attempts to act out the story and dance lesson themselves. The repetition in the dialogue ("Robot walk!" "Robot walk?!") demonstrates just how much tone and context can affect meaning. We have come to expect delicious hilarity from this interspecies friendship, and indeed Willems's comedic gifts are many -- both friends' slyly emotive eyes and Gerald's Richard Simmons-esque workout clothes can reduce a roomful of listeners to giggles. Though this episode is less rooted in a young child's daily experiences than the other books in the series, the idea that difficult tasks can at least be attempted is a valuable one. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this humorous outing, Gerald the elephant and Piggie debate whether or not "elephants can dance." Gerald, who is convinced that he cannot (he tells Piggie to look it up in the "What Elephants Can Do" book) decides to give it a go nonetheless. Results are mixed, with Gerald basically doing the opposite of each instruction. Willems's characteristically sparse cartoon images and the use of speech balloons portray the comical dilemma with clarity, making it an ideal pick for early readers. Ages 4-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved